19-Sep-16 – A recent memorial on Michigan Avenue for Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable was an opportunity for organizations dedicated to Chicago’s first non-native settler to call for the cleanup and completion of DuSable Park.

Located on the east side of Lake Shore Drive, DuSable Park is not easily accessible, there are no plans for its development any time soon, and its soil is contaminated with thorium, a radioactive chemical, dumped by a lamp factory in the early 1900s. (Right) DuSable Park, as seen from Lake Point Tower.

The Chicago Park District has said it will remove all radioactive material from the 3.5-acre site over the next year, with the work paid for from a $6.7 million civil judgment against the parent company of the factory. However, more money will be needed to construct a new seawall.

DuSable Park Coalition, whose members include 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, says it has “relaunched its efforts to galvanize support for and to encourage the Chicago Park District to move ahead with construction of DuSable Park.”

The coalition notes that other nearby parks, such as Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park, has been completed and opened “in a timely fashion.”

“This brave explorer must eventually come out of the darkness and receive all the recognition he deserves,” said Lesly Condé, consulate general of Haiti in Chicago, at the memorial on September 7.

A wreath next to the bust of DuSable, who died 198 years ago, is a gift from the Haitian Consul in Chicago and Friends of DuSable. The bronze sculpture, mounted on a granite pedestal, is currently on the west side of Michigan Avenue, moved from the east side due to construction of an Apple retail store. It was erected on October 17, 2009, near Pioneer Court, where the Haitian-born fur trader’s first trading post was located in 1779. (Left) Closer view of DuSable bust.